


if you're bleeding from the heart

by PsychoLimbo



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: "Excuse me sir these are my emotional support friends", Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Multi, also you can interpret the relationship between these 3 as platonic or romantic, and the thought of him having to cope with this shit alone hurts my entire-ass soul, freakshow can eat my entire left shoe, fuck that guy, i just needed them to have some Soff(tm) moments, its up to you dude, look danny goes through so much trauma and its not addressed, this is after season 1 episode 20 when danny gets mind controlled and almost kills sam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-14
Updated: 2019-06-14
Packaged: 2020-05-07 13:36:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19210516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PsychoLimbo/pseuds/PsychoLimbo
Summary: Being brainwashed and forced to almost kill one of your best friendscan'tbe good for your mental health. Thankfully, Danny still has both his friends and they'll always be here for him, no matter what.Or, Danny has a nightmare and Sam and Tucker give him a soft place to land.





	if you're bleeding from the heart

**Author's Note:**

> This is unedited, unbeta-ed, it is midnight and im crying over Danny, Sam and Tucker and their pure-as-hell friendship.
> 
> Might edit this later who knows agcdhj
> 
> Warning for some cursing because have you ever met a 14 year old. They say 'fuck' like it's a new kind of punctuation.
> 
> (Title is from Family by Mother Mother)

_ He’s dreaming. _

_ He knows he’s dreaming, he’s not sure how he knows, but he does and that means that none of this is happening in real time. His body isn’t moving on its own, Sam isn’t staring at him from her precarious spot balanced on a tightrope a few paces away, and the ground isn’t a dizzying distance below them. There’s no manic laughter and excited cheers from oblivious spectators in the grandstands surrounding the ring, and Tucker isn’t screaming at them from the ground, his voice almost lost in the chorus of gleeful shouting. _

_ His arms aren’t moving on their own, bringing down a scythe on the rope Sam stands on, and she’s not plummeting towards the ground. She’s not looking at him in terror, with that overwhelming, crushing glimmer of betrayal in her eyes. _

_ Except that this did happen. _

_ A week ago, this very thing was playing out. But this time, Danny doesn’t break free in time to save Sam. Instead, he’s screaming until his throat goes raw, thrashing at chains that bite into his wrists and ankles, shoved into a tiny box in his own head as Freakshow’s horrible red globe traps him in his own body. No matter how much he kicks, screams, cries,  _ **_fights_ ** _ against his restraints… they don’t yield. _

_ Sam hits the ground. _

_ Danny’s head goes completely awry, and he’s not sure what he’s looking at, but he knows it is-- was-- Sam. Tucker screams. Blood runs over the hard-packed dirt floor of the ring. Freakshow’s hysterical laughter explodes in Danny’s brain like a stick of dynamite, completely destroying all his rational thought and only making the crowd’s cheers and the psychotic giggles louder. _

_ Danny lets out a wail of despair. _

* * *

Danny shakes himself awake, heart hammering in his chest fast enough for it to hurt, icy sweat running down his face and making his sleep-mussed black hair stick messily to his face. His entire body twitches with uncontrollable shivers, and his eyes start to burn and blur.

He gasps for breath, finally remembering how to breathe. He sits up from where he’s lying on the floor of Tucker’s bedroom, but he can’t make the afterimage of Sam’s mangled body and Tucker’s horrified expression disappear. Danny closes his eyes, but the image only grows sharper, seemingly branded to the backs of his eyelids. 

With one last desperate gulp of air, Danny’s last bit of resolve breaks away and he hunches forward, holding his face in his hands and trying to stifle his sobs. 

Danny’s not sure how long he sits there, feeling once again at the mercy of a force he can’t control, but at some point, he hears Sam stir.

“... _ God, what are you two doing,” _ Sam mumbles from her own place on an air mattress a few feet away, “Can you guys keep it down-- Danny?”

Trying in vain to once again get his emotions under control, Danny forces a smile on his face and raises his head to look in Sam’s direction. “I-it’s fine. I’m fine. S-sorry for waking you up-”

_ “Tucker, wake up!!”  _ Sam snaps, rolling out of bed and jabbing a foot up to kick at Tucker, who’s hanging halfway off his bed. 

The kick seems to do the trick, because Tucker snorts, shifts, and falls clumsily to the floor, where he crushes Sam. She hisses a curse at him that Danny can’t make out over the sound of his pulse thrumming in his ears, but his fear-addled brain won’t let him think about Sam and Tucker too hard anyways.

_ I killed her. I  _ **_killed Sam._ **

_ I killed my friend, she’s gone, she’s gone, it’s  _ **_my fault-_ **

“Hey, man, it’s okay! We’re fine!” Tucker’s groggy voice cuts through his terror.

“Yeah, we’re all in one piece,” Sam adds, and Danny jumps at the feeling of a hand on his shuddering shoulder, “You didn’t kill me, okay? You  _ saved _ me. That was you who saved me.”

Somehow, Danny manages to raise his head from where he’d tucked it firmly into his knees. Not much, but just enough to see the fuzzy outlines of his friends in the dark room. He blinks, subconsciously activating his ability to see in the dark, but feels his fear choke him again at the thought that it was  _ that side of him _ that Freakshow was able to manipulate and control. 

The side of him that almost killed his friend.

He tries to suck in more air, coughing when he grows too panicked to regulate his breathing properly, and he feels like he’s sinking through the floor.

He’s watching it play out from outside his body, though that’s not what’s actually happening. He’s still here, feeling his lungs disobeying him, shaking uncontrollably and feeling his fingers go numb and his head swim. It’s like he’s floating, but also falling through dozens of floors at dizzying speeds, his intangibility refusing to  _ listen, listen,  _ **_listen,_ ** _ why can’t I  _ **_control it-_ **

He can’t stop the yelp of shock when he feels two sets of arms wrap tightly around him, pulling him close, warming his frigid limbs, he’s going to hurt them,  _ stop stop go away, don’t touch me, I’m  _ **_dangerous-_ **

“G-get  _ back,” _ Danny chokes out between labored breaths, “ _ It’s n-not safe.” _

“Oh, that’s bullshit and you know it. You’re too much of a softie to hurt us.” Sam’s teasing voice murmurs from Danny’s left.

Tucker laughs quietly from his right, “Yeah, remember that time in the fifth grade when we were playing catch and you accidentally hit a bird with the ball? You wouldn’t stop crying for  _ days, _ dude. The bird was fine and you still bawled like a baby!”

_ “Did not.” _ Danny manages to laugh wetly, and the remark seems to make his friends hug him tighter.

Slowly, as his friends wrap him tightly in a hug that feels incredibly protective, Danny feels his emotions melt into something more manageable. It still runs rampant enough to make each breath a hell of a task and his muscles spasm wildly, but his head is clear enough for him to shakily reach up and return the hug. He’s not sure who he’s pushing his face into, but it doesn’t matter. 

All that matters is that they don’t let go, no matter how much tears and snot Danny stains their shirt with, no matter how annoying his constant stream of apologies must be, and not even when he finally exhausts himself and falls asleep in their arms.

This time, his sleep is peaceful and dreamless.

* * *

“I’m sorry.”

As they walk down the sidewalk the following morning, all three of them sore and groaning from sleeping smushed in a pile at awkward angles, Danny can’t seem to stop apologizing. He knows that both Sam and Tucker have definitely forgiven him, they’ve told him so, but he can’t help but keep thinking about just  _ how close _ he came to making a mistake he wouldn’t be able to fix.

Sam and Tucker heave a sigh at the same time, but there’s no annoyance or hostility in it. Just a mild apprehensiveness and understanding. Both of them swivel their heads around to look at him, and Danny feels his chest grow warm when he searches their expressions and finds nothing but acceptance there. 

“Don’t sweat it, dude. It wasn’t your fault-- not the Freakshow crap and not the hot mess that was our sleeping arrangement last night.” Tucker jokes, playfully punching Danny lightly in the shoulder. 

Sam throws an arm around Danny’s shoulders, gesturing nonchalantly with her other hand. “I know you’re not gonna stop beating yourself up over this, because that’s just the kinda person you are, but can I just ask you for one thing?”

“Uh, sure. What is it?” Danny stammers.

“ _ Talk  _ to us,” Sam emphasizes, “If it were anyone else, I’d say ‘oh yeah, go talk to a therapist or your parents or something’ but uh… your problems are a liiiiittle unorthodox to say the least. So just to lighten the load a bit, talk to me and Tuck whenever something’s bothering you. Please?”

Danny can’t help but glance at Tucker, and he blinks owlishly when Tucker nods vigorously. “Yeah! You see a  _ lot _ of fucked-up shit-- you literally deal with  _ dead people-- _ and I’m no professional, but I’m pretty sure that’s not good for your brain, dude. Dump your problems on us! We’re not just here to follow you around while you kick butt and take names, we’re in this together!”

In spite of how Danny spent the past hour or so steeling himself, rebuilding his walls, burying his emotions deep, he feels his throat grow tight and he hurriedly wipes at his eyes. “Th-thanks, guys. But you really gotta stop making me cry. It’s ruining my whole  _ heroic  _ image.”

“Even heroes cry sometimes, y’know. Personally, I think someone’s  _ more _ heroic when they actually show emotion.” Sam replies without missing a beat, reaching up to mess up Danny’s already-unruly mop of hair. 

Before he can bat her hand away, Tucker shoves his hand in his hair as well and only makes it worse. “Yeah, and even with the tears and snot, you’re pretty damn cool, man!”

“Thanks… and, um… I’m sorry. Again.”

“It’s fine!” Sam and Tucker laugh at the same time, moments before Tucker groans and rubs at his neck.

“But next time we do the whole ‘dogpile cuddle-session’, can we  _ please _ sort it out in a way that  _ doesn’t  _ make everything hurt?”

“That’s a plan I can get behind.” Sam mumbles, stretching out her shoulders.

Danny wipes at his eyes one last time, then laughs and lets a smile spread across his face. “That sounds great.”

**Author's Note:**

> Friendship ended with the BNHA fandom, now the DP fandom is my best friend.
> 
> Look, DP is fantastic ok. I would actually die for these kids.


End file.
